Headsmacking Tip #14: Offer Testimonials, Get&nbspLinks

The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.

What motivates a link? Sometimes it's referencing data/research/news or given because you've produced something interesting and valuable. Sometimes it's because another site has licensed or adopted content/widgets/badges from you. But, in most cases where an editorial link is given, I find that the underlying motivation is because that link provides some benefit to the linking site. This brings us to the fourteenth tip in our headsmacking series and possibly the tactic that will provide you with the lowest hanging link building fruit yet.

Not too shabby, right? The link comes from their homepage and every blog post they publish and points back to our homepage, sending over plenty of nice link juice as well as some decent traffic (from those interested in learning who SEOmoz is and why we like MindValley so much).

Again, this link is great for search engines (there's only a handful of other external links on the page), it's relevant and it provides traffic as well as search engine benefit.

The next step isn't too hard to figure out: Go give testimonials!

I'd wager that most of you have between 2-5 dozen contacts who would love to get something positive written from you about them that they can publish on their site. It's not hard to get started; simply make a list and start sending emails. I've provided a brief template you can use below:

Hey Thomas,

Long time no see! I hope all is well with TomsBlog.com and wanted to reach out to offer my help. I've been really impressed with the work you do - your posts are inspiring and educational time after time. I'd be more than happy to provide a testimonial you could publish on the site if you'd like - just let me know and I'll send something over. It would be my pleasure to share the benefits I've received with the rest of your visitors :-)

Best wishes,
Rand Fishkin, CEO & Co-Founder, SEOmoz

Testimonial links have a number of qualities that make them absolute gems in the link acquisition world:

You can often customize the link location and anchor text (so long as it's relevant and sensible) - just ask when you send over the testimonial (or, better yet, send over the exact HTML code that will embed the right link so all the receiver has to do is copy + paste)

Testimonials are frequently sitewide, but even when they're not, they tend to reside on popular, important pages (even homepages sometimes - an otherwise impossible place to get a link)

They're 100% editorially given and meant as a true reflection of the relationship you've built - that's precisely the kind of link the search engines want to count

They provide strong benefits to both parties in the deal; everyone's a winner

They're not nearly as awkward or bizarre as a standard link request and the probability for acceptance is very high

Start a list and get cracking - you have nothing to lose but your link poverty :-)

p.s. As with all link building tactics, if you go overboard (abusing this tactic to excess on in a manipulative fashion), the search engines may not take it well. This is a great way to leverage existing relationships and contacts to help bring in links, but if you're plotting how to use this to earn hundreds or thousands of links, you're likely treading on dangerous ground (unless you're a reporter for a major publication, in which case every business you mention is likely to be linking back to your articles about them).

2. Testimonials taken out of context - it is quite possible to give a testimonial in one context, and for it to later end up being used in another context that isn't quite what you intended, but could damage your relationship to ask for it to be removed.

3. Some testimonials are really obvious that they are just for the link or branding and it can be a negative when a potential customer sees it, and knows the testimonial isn't fully truthful.

Definitely good points - you shouldn't be doing this manipulatively. My blog post certainly was not intended to promote manipulation. The nice part, of course, is that even if spammers did send these out, unless you have a reputable title/brand, chances are fairly slim that random sites will want to post a testimonial from you. You're far better off leveraging your personal network (which was my recommendation).

Regarding the FTC - I think that's a huge stretch. I'll ask Sarah (our COO and attorney), but I believe there would have to be something much more substantive changing hands before you'd need to be concerned about their rules. A citation for that would be terrific.

These are not lawyers or in any way legal experts, but they do represent the legitimate concern among people who are successful within the internet marketing & information marketing field.

For those who might not be familiar, I will include some background

Lets Start with Frank Kern and some humor - Frank is notable in this regard as he has been burned by the FTC in the past.

http://masscontrolsite.com/blog/?p=59

It is humerous, but that is Frank's style of teaching - the concern is genuine and 500 comments back that up.

Parry Marshall is renowned for his Adwords training and wrote about the change in testimonials back in April

http://www.perrymarshall.com/federal-trade-commission-testimonials/

Emphasis on typical results when most people never use a product they buy.

Michel is a top copywriter for many online businesses - his new disclosure policy lists many of the people he has worked with.

His article concentrates on how a vendor might be liable for the claims made by affiliates

http://www.michelfortin.com/affiliate-marketing/

Just glancing at the testimonials on the SEOmoz sales page currently...

Will a typical user gain a 20-30% increase in traffic?

Will typical users see a return on investment in 30 seconds?

How many of the people giving testimonials have spoken at an SEOmoz event, or have some other material connection?

I have already seen sales pages where they have added a specific disclaimer with every testimonial that made any kind of performance claims.

These aren't necessarily legal reasons why you should be careful giving testimonials for links, I haven't seen any coverage on that angle. One thing for me is clear - whilst in the past vendors were actively looking for testimonials with performance claims, and this would increase the chance they would publish your testimonial, going forward they might be scared to use them, or the need for a specific disclaimer might be a detraction for both parties.

Not that Andy needs any confirmation, but I can confirm that these changes have taken place. They even sent emails to those on their mailing lists notifying people of the revisions in policy.

The world of online marketing is tightening up, and will continue to do so. Testimonials are the bread-and-butter of most info-product sellers, so its going to be interesting as a shift in tactics begins to take hold.

Another great article Rand. Curious if you have had any negative reception to sending the link when they didn't ask for it.

On other's points, linking does not constitute a form of payment and as a result doesn't fall under the pervue of the FCC's recent rulings. In-kind payments (money, gifts, etc...) are what is really being scrutinized because influence is gained through monetary efforts such that it creates an uneven playing field. That however isn't to say you can't do it but that you have to disclose it.

Anyone know how blatant your disclosure has to be? Can you bury your disclosure in T's and C's or does it have to be on a post/review?

Andy - let's not be misleading. www.seomoz.org/gopro has a number of testimonials, and one of them says this:

...the cost was recovered in about 30 seconds once I realised how quickly I could get all the collaborated information that used to take me ages...

That's not the same as saying "typical users see an ROI in 30 seconds." Your suggestion that we bribe people with speaking slots at seminars (which are by invitation and merit-based, but unpaid) is also a stretch.

An email did go out to Sarah this morning and she's planning to write something more on this in the next couple days. I appreciate you bringing up the issue.

Information marketers have never claimed (at least for a long time) that the results given in testimonials are the typical results that all their clients achieve because it is impossible, as most people don't take action.

Even the fake weight loss blogs have mile long disclaimers

If you looked at your usage stats of MozPro, I bet there are a percentage of people who don't use the tools, are mainly lurkers, or maybe haven't even logged in for a few months.

This isn't abnormal, in fact many marketers have been highlighting this problem - how to encourage more people to actually use what they have paid for, take action, and achieve better results.

For years the solution when having testimonials on a page was to include a disclaimer "Results are not typical" etc

That kind of disclaimer is no longer sufficient.

Here is an opinion by Mike Young who specializes in Internet Law.

I am sure he has a blog post announcing this guide, but as he uses the Bad Behavior plugin for WordPress and I am on a variable IP address in Poland, I get blocked.

If someone can dig out a link to a blog post announcing it that would give more background.

I honestly wasn't being misleading. I know people who are sticking lengthy disclaimers on their sales page at the bottom of every single testimonial that has any claim of results/performance.

As far as being speakers at SEOmoz events? That honestly isn't of minor concern in my honest opinion. No disrespect to the guys at Distilled for instance, I personally am sure Will Critchlow's testimonial is genuine, but the FTC, looking at it at arm's length would possibly see a conflict.

It is quite possible that the FTC are only interested in B2C currently, but many of SEOmoz clients are B2C looking for links.

Bringing this back to your post, people need to look for testimonial opportunities where there isn't any conflict and possibly avoid making specific perfomance claims.

If I personally gave someone a testimonial, I would ensure there was nothing within it that would require a disclaimer, as in some ways having a disclaimer about a relationship is negative for branding, no positive.

I'm not an attorney, but I'm with Rand on the new FTC regulations. The intent is to regulate paid testimonials. The FTC isn't going to eliminate them, but sites will need to disclose whether a testimonial is paid or sponsored in some other way.

If you have a legitimate, unbiased review (whether positive or negative) of a company or a product and post a testimonial on your site, it should be just fine with the FTC if you let the company know about your testimonial and offer a "suggestion" to the company that they link to your testimonial. And imo, if you "offer" a suggested link structure they can easily copy and paste, this is a good thing. Since your testimonial wasn't solicited by the company in exchange for payment or other compensation such as free membership, etc. you'll be okay under the new ftc guidelines.

Take consumerreports.org for example. They publish all kinds of testimonials if a website links to the review of their product on consumerreports, does that make consumer reports liable under the new FTCrules? probably not.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out for the Colorado BBB and sites like ripoffreport that offer to remove complaints from file if you are a paid member. If you don't pay them, the complaints remain on the site, but will have a status showing closed, satisfied, disputed, etc. paying for exclusion of complaints is, in a way, similar to paying for inclusion of positive reviews...right?

I was thinking, I really like SEOMoz with the insightful posts and the community that exists here. If you are interested I would love to write you a testimonial you could publish on the the site if you'd like - just let me know and I'll send something over. I'd love to share with your visitors the value that I've received from being an SEOMoz member. :)

Or just have an impressive company or title - many smaller sites/bloggers/companies/startups/individuals would be happy to have a CEO, Director of Marketing or VP of Sales leaving a testimonial, even if the company isn't well-known (and, conversely, even if you're a search marketing analyst at Disney or Intel or Bank of America, the brand credibility is a value-add).

Perhaps it may have been worth suggesting to "vary" your testimonial text somewhat, including your anchor text to avoid any potential "link spam" signals?

I imagine after reading this, some people will go overboard and offer a testimonial to every single contact on their lists (possibly automating a request/offering), although I personally don't think there would be enough testimonialing (new word!) to justify this warning, lets play nice and warn spammers?! :)

Hi Rand - this penny just dropped for me recently, and then I came across this article. I've had some great success with initial outreach. People are snatching my hands off. Can I just check - would you still endorse this method, or are there any new risks to it since 2009?

Nobody should take legal threats lightly, BUT-- you do have to consider that

1- FTC type rules and the emotional stories about them are a topic that slam dunk attention like no other. People seem to love to talk about 'the rules' and what the punishments are for breaking them. There is an almost obsessive quality about it as a water cooler topic, way out of proportion to reality.

2- Since a majority of folks communicate via complaining, it's a perfect topic to be discussed for years.

3- Certain personality types are rule oriented and honestly think they are living to the height of glory when they are aware of and enforcng rules.

I have found that if you will work as normal, things are good. Just be aware.

Fantastic article, people should be careful about going crazy and sending a load of testimonials, however. Be sure to only send out testimonials that mean something and are important! It's a waste of time to send out hundreds of generic testimonials to a) places that won't use them anyway and b) places that aren't important in the SEs eyes.

There is another avenue you could persue, and that is existing suppliers. These may be in the form of content providers, services, etc. and quite often your suppliers sites are not nearly as well versed in SEO...So it helps both parties. The get to make more sales and get leads via your testimonial and you get the link love. Win Win!

Nice words you say about the person, company or product praising value/reliability/etc.

- Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz, a leading provider of SEO tools and resources

I'm sure an experienced copywriter could do an even better job of this (and the nice part for visitors is that the anchor text actually helps describe who you are and what you do - it's not just for the engines)

I am in no way a legal beagle but what we often tell clients regarding testimonials is to create a form requesting a testimonial from client and ensure that the context in which the testimonial is going to be used is stated. Have the form faxed to the "testimonial giver" and have them fax it back signed. If copy edits or use changes then fax corrections and get another signature. Keep all communications. In the end if your relationship with a company is good enough to put your name out there then I wouldn't worry too much. I will say that I need to do some reading tonight on the legal topics mentioned above so thanks for that boring homework assignment.